It's now 2018. Don't ask me how we made it, but we did.
Regular readers have probably been wondering what's been going on that I haven't posted much. The short form, and the honest answer, is that I haven't had it in me to really post, aside from some stuff that I copy-and-pasted out of my notes, polished up a bit, and saved. The holiday season is always a busy time, and my life is no different from anyone else's in that regard.
Lyssa and I flew back to Pennsylvania at more or less the last minute about halfway through the month to celebrate an early Yule with our respective parents. Some last minute jiggery-pokery landed us a pair of get-seats-at-the-gate redeye flights to and from the other coast, which resulted in the peculiar combination of jet lag and sleep deprivation. This resulted in my getting sick again not long after arrival. I was in a fair amount of pain for several weeks due to this particular illness. Frequent readers are somewhat aquainted with my dental history, which reads like a classic farce as written by Hunter S. Thompson. Suffice it to say that I was living in a haze of pain that took most of the wind out of my sails without actually being overtly incapacitating. At least Lyssa and I spent some quality time with our nieces and nephews, and everyone seemed to enjoy their gifts.
It's my first Yule without my grandfather. His death is something that I am acutely aware of. It's been very difficult getting used to his not being around, and it's not easy to admit that his death has been weighing heavily on me all year. I miss him a lot. I don't think I'm ready to write about it, though. What I do think I can say safely is that I haven't felt like going clubbing or dancing, or to any concerts at all lately.
Lyssa and I spent the actual holiday as most people think of it with west-coast family, mostly doing as little as we could get away with. I'd promised myself I was going to be productive, write a couple of articles, and get some long-planned hacking done. However, that wound up not happening. I spent most of the time reading, with the odd trip somewhere in the city to explore and stretch my legs a bit, but mostly I stayed at home and worked on pulling myself back together (and sleeping off the jet lag). We didn't do anything crazy for the New Year, but we did have an four course dinner at an Eastern European restaurant in the city called Duna on New Year's Eve.
It's now 2 January 2018. I go back to work in two days. I kind of feel like crap but I can't do much about that; needs must. I don't know what 2018 has in store, but I hope it's better than last year.
